it's the top of the hour, you're in the cnn newsroom. i'm garry tuchman sitting in for fredericka whitfield. israel and hamas militants in gaza are fight forgive a fourth straight day with no letup in sight. anderson cooper is in gaza city, anderson cooper is in israel. -- wolf blitzer is in israel. >> israel has said that the israeli air force struck more than 120 targets on sunday in gaza. most notably, the house of a -- the hamas the head of a hamas rocket unit. initially say had said they

killed that man. they can't verify whether or not they did -- the local ambulance crews said that as many as ten civilians, women and children were inside the house at the time. the israelis do acknowledge that this man's family was in the house at the time. but they cannot confirm if he was there. israeli -- hitting some local journalists, they had called up some french journalists in advance of the strike, and told them to get out of the building, and they did evacuate, but some journalists did go back inside. there was a response to that, there's been a number of large explosions already this evening and we an fticipate in the hour ahead. >> what's the feeling you get of

the atmosphere right now when you see people in gaza and you know it's going to be another long night there? >> it's obviously a very tense atmosphere, the streets are deserted not only at this time of night, but at this time of day, shops are closed, and you don't see the large number of people. this country is densely populated, about 10 million people, gaza, it's a very populated place, but the -- you don't see the usual life in this city. and there's this constant sound overhead of drones, i can hear them right now, it is a nonstop sound and those are obviously israeli defense force drones, looking at targets and watching overhead, garry. >> anderson, thank you very much. let's go to wolf blitzer, he's in jerusalem.

>> the expand operation against hamas, do you have any indication of what he meant, was he referring to a ground invasion? >> i think he was, the israelis have notified 75,000 reservists that they are on call, 30,000 or so already have been activated and they have beenyed to what they're calling training units not that far away from gaza, so the next 48 hours, garry, are going to be very critical. if the rockets are come into israel and the longer range missiles coming into jerusalem, i think the israeli government will react, i don't think they want to. i'm sure they don't want to go into that area that anderson just described as very heavily populated, very dense, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. they point out that 1,000

rockets and missiles have been launched from gaza since last wednesday when this situation really escalated. and if it continues, they say they're going to have no choice. but i think they're willing to give it another 48 hours or to, maybe a little bit longer to see if the diplomacy can work and some sort of cease fire can be achie achieved. if it's not achieved, israeli -- >> how big was the onslaught today in southern israel? >> the iron dome seems to be working very well. when these rockets or these missiles go after populated areas, or strategic targets, political targets if you will, they have got about a 90% success ratio so far. they don't use these anti-missile systems if it looks like the missile is going to go

into a nonpopulate area, a rural area or what have you. it seems to be working for the israeli military. i just spoke with a member of the israel defense forces say it's working very well, the way most of the experts in israel thought it would work. it's a joint military operation, the creation of this system. there were some intense shelling going on today as well rocks coming in from gaza. i don't think there were any casualties today on the part of the israelis. there was nobody who was killed, but the israelis were deeply worried every time one of those sirens goes off, people scrambled, especially those in town, it's obviously a very, very major, major target, a source of terror if you will for hundreds of thousands of israelis. >> these are rockets being fired.

there's a new key that's under way in egypt. this could be very crucial, very important. now the secretary general ban ki-moon is in cairo. so there's a lot of pressure, the u.s. would certainly like to see a cessation of hostilities, the israelis are anxious for that to happen. they want to see what's going on. one of the things that the israelis point out is that yes, hamas is in charge and they hold that group responsible. but there's other groups in gaza that may not completely been under the control of hamas. that could be one of the problems even though one of

the -- saying hamas is responsibility for any rockets that come into israel right now. some of the civilian casualties we saw today, there will be a lot more if israeli tanks or armored personnel carries or israeli troops move into that heavily populated area, but they're saying and the prime minister said today, benjamin net tanya -- netanyahu. >> wolf blitzer -- president obama is monitoring the conflict in the middle east as he travels through asia. today in thailand, he said the u.s. will work with all parties to end the violence. later today, mr. obama makes history when he becomes the first u.s. president ever to visit myanmar.

the state department is update how it deserves security for diplomatic efforts around the globe. secretary hillary clinton will monitor where forces are deployed so they can travel to help out emergencies in state department facilities if needed. the change comes in the midst of congressional hearings that are critical of how the obama administration handled the attack on gaza. democratic congressman ron barbour bested -- >> rescue crews have found a man's body in the gulf of mexico. they believe he is one of the two crewmembers missing after an explosion on an oil blat form.

the body has not been identified yet. the crisis in the middle east has intensified and we'll meet someone who's inside the inner circle in the white house, we'll ask what's going on behind closed doors right now. the wheels of progress haven't been very active lately. but because of business people like you, things are beginning to get rolling. and regions is here to help. making it easier with the expertise and service to keep those wheels turning.

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at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. i want to get back to our escalating story, the crisis in the middle east. i want to bring in my colleagues wolf blitzer who's in jerusalem, and anderson cooper what's in gaza. peter i want to start with you, president obama has been on the phone with israeli prime

minister benjamin netanyahu. what was the tone of that meeting? >> as both wolf and anderson have outlined, the immediate crisis is to try to resolve this, obtain a cease fire and avoid an escalation. israel is connected to everything else in the middle east. what's different about this situation versus four years ago is the entire regional environment has changed. you have got a civil war going on in syria, you've got protests going on in jordan, you've got unrest along the israeli -- gyp shan border. you've got iran close to a

nuclear weapon. >> how important is the relationship right now between president obama and president morsi in egypt? >> it will be critical. and as the president said in the advance of the election, he's neither at the point friend or foe. morsi has a very difficult delicate political charge, his party, the freedom of justice party comes out of the muslim brotherhood, they have an affinity with hamas. and president morsi is after his own challenges, getting his economy back on track, he's going to need significant support from the united states, the president and the congress. he's got different constituencies pulling him in

opposite directions. >> to wolf in jerusalem, we all know the relationship between president obama and mr. netanyahu was challenging for the last four years. but now how much influence do you believe barack obama can have in finding a solution to the situation when he talks with benjamin netanyahu. >> i think he has a significant influence, he's just been re-elected president of the united states, and israel is very dependent in many areas on u.s. support. so that relationship, even though there had been some moments of tension over the last few years, considerable tension, right now if you look at the president of israel, he's calling an extraordinary military to military intelligence operation. to underscore that, when i mentioned the iron dome rocket system is funded at least in part by the united states, hundreds of millions of dollars

and it seems to be working very well. what the president can do and what i'm sure he's trying to do and p.j. knows this and anderson knows this, what he's trying to do is egypt and israel and hamas a cease fire, when you go back to the situation they had earlier when there was no shelling coming into israel, israel doesn't respond and maybe that can set the stage and this is right now sounding way, way overly optimistic, and george missile the special envoy -- there's a new administration and the president is going to get involved with the new secretary of state, whoever he or she might be.

>> how important do you think this is right now between president obama and what is the secretary of state hillary clinton. can they play an important role at this moment? >> certainly it's a very important moment, i can honestly say you can hear explosions off in the distance. i don't know if you can hear, that it's actually multiple now, explosions off in the distance, it's the central gaza area, it's obviously a crucially important moment, we're seeing france play a role, obviously president obama playing a role and as wolf said, talking to the leader who is may have influence over qatar, turkey, egypt and elsewhere. there is no easy solution here, hamas doesn't recognize israel's right to exist, israel does not want to tolerate have any group sending rockets across the

border into israel and, again, just the firing continues here. but as you said, it's obviously a cruciality important moment. >> you bring up an important point, anderson, when you look over your shoulder, you have 1.4 million people in the gaza strip who have been hearing that all night longe for the past few nights. are people saying to you, yes, we would like a negotiated settlement we don't want hamas to fire anymore into israel because we want it to stop here. >> there's a lot of anger directed toward israel obviously, that's what you hear most. i mean there are -- people do not seem to have a lot of control over where hamas puts their rockets and obviously, this is a very densely packed area, it's filled with civilians and yet these rockets are being fired from areas of civilian areas and you can have a small

al ley and people don't have a lot of control here or where they live or where they can go and they makes the security situation very difficult for israel in terms of targeting these rocket batteries. >> wolf what's different from four years. what i'm wondering, are you hearing from israelis too, are you also hearing that it's time we get to hamas forever. >> there obviously a significant dialogue going on here in israel, you hear all sorts of views, they are really wored about those missiles they have a range of about 75 kilometers of 50 miles or so and those are the ones that could reach tel aviv and jerusalem.

over the past two or three days, they have destroyed not all of them, but most of them so they're feeling a little more at ease about that, but these grab missiles that have a range of 40 kilometers. and some of these cities not far from gaza and they're still planning apparently the hamas forces have plenty of those still left. so this is a situation that could go on for a while and the israelis say, you know, they have been tolerating this for the last couple of years, but they want it to end now one way or the other. they're hoping that the diplomats could achieve something and maybe they can. if they can, hopefully there will be a cease fire and everybody can go on to establish some sort of peace process. that's going to take a lot of goodwill. the primary as you may clear this morning, we made clear that he doesn't have an endless a lot

of patience right now. >> p.j. crowley, wolf blitzer, anderson cooper, thank you for joining us. the david petraeus scandal is shining a new light on military families. look at the wives and children. we'll see how they deal with something like this coming up next.

as the scandal at the cia and the pentagon continues to grow, a lot of attention has been paid to the men in uniforms. now there's a lot of attention focussed on marine corps general john allen because of e-mails to a woman who triggered the scandals. what about the wives and others members of the family. terry, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, gary, thank you for inviting me. with the news of petraeus' scandal and now general allen under investigation, some wonder, does the scandal reflect military families or marriage as a whole? what do you think about that? >> i don't think it reflects on

military marriages or military life as a whole. the implications for this issue are for the families who are involved and to paint the military with a broad brush, military families or military marriages to say this in any way implicates them i think is incorrect. >> how is the news receiveded by military families? this is has got to be a downer for a lot of people. >> this is definitely a sense of sadness, speaking for me personally and for others, any time you see a family going through a difficult situation, as this obviously is and in such a public way. there's also a sense of disappointment, when we see leaders behaving in a way that is not exemplary, this brings unwanted attention to the military, military families,

military marriages to say in some way this is indicative of military families or military life as a whole. >> you interviewed general p petrae petraeus' wife several years ago. >> i do think that military families would rally around her. but not in a sense of taking sides one way or the other. i think military families are rooting for these military families and there are two families involved just to come through this in the best way possible, for healing and wholeness again. i think is there's definitely support for holly petraeus and all the people involved. >> how does this event impact -- >> i don't think so, i don't think this impacts her work at all. she has done a lot to help military spouses and military

families and i don't think this impacts -- this is one situation, this is unevent involving two families and i don't think it really involves the military family as a whole. >> one final question for you, terriy, you're an expert on the military community, have you learned anything about this? have you learned anything through this incident that you didn't know before? >> well, i think this is a good opportunity, if anything, for military couples and military families just to stop and say, how are we? are we vulnerable? are we healthy? some maybe some introspection for all military couples. it's always good to know where you are, what the health is of your marriage and your family. so if anything, if anything good can come any way that we can apply this to ourselves, then we should look inside ourselves for the health of our own families. >> i think that's good a advise for all of us not just military

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investigators are trying to determine who is responsible for a fatal crash. it's a mile high mystery over denver. it's real video, not "the national enquirer" or anything. he says the fast moving object appears around noon a few times a week, this is not a one-time deal. aviation experts say they don't know what it is, but they say it's not a bird or a plane, but they don't know what it is. the beloved twinkie could become a foreign import.

according to the christian science monitor, the twinkie may survive if a mexican company has its way. the world's largest bread baking firm which already owns part s f sara lee is vying to make a bid for the twinkie. vice president biden tours new jersey today. his visit will include a stop in the north jersey city of hoboken. sandy's clean up is full of twists and turns, thieves and congress artists. for one thing, some toeiei some company -- --

>> reporter: tow trucks are in huge demand after hurricane sandy. since the storm, they have been clearing the way for emergency vehicles, getting rid of destroyed cars, hauling away boats swept into the middle of the street. but as police learned in katrina, starts are prime territory for shady operators to steal cars targeting older models that can be -- we shadowed the new york police auto crime unit, spot checking towers, making sure they're t towing the line. at night it's often easier to get away with illegal tows. >> it's pitch black out here, you can't see anything. it's very dark, they can sneak

in and out neighborhoods, grab cars and leave. >> along the way we stop at this spot where tow trucks have dropped off their vehicles. see the markings here? it has to do with the loan company. this car still has water in the health. let's give it a shake so you can see it. >> there's a reason why the insurance company totalled it out. >> for now police are monitoring the lot to make sure that cars don't disappear without reason. authorities seize records of one

toein toeing companies. overcharged owners to get them back. after several attempts, we were unable to reach the company for comment. we put a van on it for an suv. >> reporter: no trouble on this patrol. new york police hope their efforts keep illegal tow trucks off the road. susan candiotti, cnn, new york. >> here is what's trending on the net right now. a 20-year-old has been charged with plotting to shoot up a theater, like the shooting that happened at that batman screening in colorado this summer. his mother got suspicious about him and called the cops. and a man charged with an ipad heist has been charged.

and music icon stevie wonder is going to lead a tribout to late television personality dick clark. black friday, the biggest shopping day of the year for many retailers, now retailers are urging lawmakers to do something about the fiscal cliff before shoppers head out to the stores. trying to find a better job can be frustrating. so at university of phoenix we're working with a growing list of almost two thousand corporate partners - companies like microsoft, american red cross and adobe - to create options for you. not only that, we're using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum. so that when you find the job you want

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our top story all weekend has you know has been the crisis in israel and gaza. my colleague anderson cooper is now in gaza city with the

latest. anderson? >> gary, another deadly day here in gaza, as you know, there was a strike by israeli defense forces, by the air force on what they say would be the house of a suspected hamas head of a hamas artillery unit. initially defense forces said they killed that head of the artillery unit but they have now backed off that? but we do know that ten members of the family who were living in this house, not the family of this hamas commander, but ten people were killed, including women and children. we talked to people on the scene who said they took away ten family members. they did unfortunately kill members of another family. they say they do not know whether or not they actually killed the hamas target they said they were going for. there were also controversial

strikes on two media centers here, buildings where local and foreign journalists have been working. a number of local journalists were injured. although israeli defense forces did give advanced warning and they evacuated but a number of journalists did go back in. about an hour, hour and a half ago, a rocket was fired from central gaza. we believe that israeli defense forces responded immediately with a drone, but i can't confirm that independently, there's been a number of large explosions the last hour or so throughout gaza, we have heard the impacts, we have heard what sounds like rolling thunderer and the blasts are far away. and always, the constant sound of israeli drones overhead

continue well into the night as we watch what is going to happen in the hours ahead. >> we know civilians are scared, one of the questions a lot of the people ask me is regarding journalists and my question for you is do you and your crew feel safe where you are? >> you know, it's obviously a very kinetic situation, it's a dynamic situation, this is not indr indris -- indiscriminate shelling, a lot of people in hamas would say it's not. but there's targeting involved in what the israeli strikes are. so there's some confidence in that. it was in sarajavo where serbs were firing missiles. that's one of the things that's difficult. this is one of the most densely

packed cities in the world. 1.7 million people in a very tight area. so the roads aren't big, and so you never know kind of what's in the buildings around you until you hear or see a rocket being fired and then you realize you better get out of that area because it's likely there's going to be a response, a retaliation for that rocket being fired. it's a dynamic situation, it's a very tricky situation to be in. >> an indication, anderson, that anybody you have talked to knows anything about the talks that are going on right now. >> there's a lot of rumors and a lot of speculation about it here on this end, there's not a great, sort of dissemination of information right now, people are very much in their homes, they're listening to radios if they can, the electricity has been cut off so if they don't have a generator, they have no radio. you know, it's going to be, i

think most people agree there is not a military solution to this. this is a military response right now, but ultimately there has to be some sort of political solution and whether there's the will for that is certainly not clear at this point. israel will point out that hamas does not recognize the right of israel to exist and say that is a fundamental problem. and bottom line, they want the rockets stopped. they say it is completely impossible for any country to accept rockets being fired across your borders at the will of somebody else. so, you know, there has to be some sort of solution to this beyond just a military one. and at this point, it's not clear what the parameters of that will be. >> an important point to end on, anderson cooper, thank you very much for joining us. we'll be right back.

don't panic, but thanksgiving is four days away. that doesn't mean we'll stop talking about money. todd, happy early thanksgiving to you. let's talk turkey, what is it going to cost us this year to feed a family? >> to feed a family of ten, it's going to cost americans more than last year. t the it isn't thanksgiving without that early holiday shopping, how is it expected to be in here? sales are expected to be higher this year compared to 2011, right? >> black friday is going to be

something else. we're expecting a 3.7% increase. we saw3.3% increase last year. you have a number of key retailers, you have walmart, you have sears, kmart who are opening their doors on thursday evening at 8:00, target is going to be opening at 9:00. but the big winner is probably going to be walmart because they're staggering their door busters special. 8:00, going into 10:00 and you're going to keep the flow of customers flowing into your stores. >> i hope that doesn't literally happen anywhere. which retailers do the best this time of year? >> the ones that are going to do best are -- cyber monday last

year we saw $1.25 billion of commerce on the monday following thanksgiving weekend. that was a record high last year for online spending and now you have wall street economists who are predicting a 4.1% increase over last year. it's going to be the big box retailers who have an online presence. look forthe big box retailers going forward. >> how many people are going to be hitting the road for thanksgiving weekend? >> you're looking at 43.6 million americans are going to hit the road this year. 90% of them are going to be in cars but they're not going to be traveling as far. one thing we are seeing a decrease in is air travel. you're not seeing a lot of people buying those tickets, hitting the flights. so a lot of people will be in the cars, they will be spending

less, traveling this thanksgiving year, but definitely it's going to be a rise in traffic. so just be prepared. >> the man with the numbers, todd shownberger getting us in the holiday giving. >> happy thanksgiving. the number-one cause of death right there in your medical cabinet. next, dr. sanjay gupta tells us about a nationwide epidemic. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars

to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. let's say you want to get ahead how do you get from here... to here? at university of phoenix we're moving career planning forward so you can start figuring that out sooner. ln fact, by thinking about where want your education to lead, while you're still in school, you might find the best route... leads somewhere you weren't even looking. let's get to work.

there's a deadly epidemic unfolding in the u.s. you may know little about. prescription drug overdoses, especially pain killer overdoses now kill more people than car crashes. that's just one of the startling facts dr. sanjay gupta learned when he started investigating for his new documentary, "deadly dose." fredrickaa whitfield found out what triggered that investigation. >> reporter: so people taking advantage of their prescriptions, how did you get wind of this epidemic? is it an epidemic? >> it's discharge an epidemic. some have said it's the largest man made epidemic in the united states. i heard about increase in pain pills just as a doctor in the hospital but president clinton had called me, and i had never

heard him like this before. he was very distraught because two of his friends had both lost sons within just a few days of each other. in this manner. they were people who were -- had jobs, one of them worked at the state department for secretary clinton, and they simply overdosed objen these pills and died, young men at the prime of their lives. so he was quite distraught about it and alerted me to some of these statistics, number one cause of death in this country, surpassing car crashes, causes more deaths than methamphetamine, heroin, combined. people don't realize when you hear drug overdose, very different. we take a lot of pain pails in this country. i talked to him about a lot of different things but i want you to listen to a little of what he said. >> this may be a static you know, i was surprised by it, but 80% of the world's pain prescriptions are in this country. 80%. does that surprise you? >> no, because -- >> is that a cultural? >> yes. >> -- problem?

>> it is cultural. people think i've got a headache or i've got this or my elbow is sore, whatever. and look, i don't want to minimize. there are a lot of people who live core ageous lives in constant pain. they're in pain all of the time. for reasons they can't control. they need relief. and they should get it. but there's no question that since we represent 5% of the world's people, and far less than 80% of the world's people with above-average incomes, we have no business popping as many pills as we do. >> we're in pain or come out of a surgery, you're prescribed something, how much is it up to you? what can you manage? >> well, you know, i think there's a perception certainly if a doctor gives you a prescription, it's safe. and for the most part, it is. but do you really need that pain prescription, is i think the first thing you start with. we probably don't need nearly as many pain prescriptions as we take. two, with the new year coming up here in a couple months, clean out your medicine cabinet. there's a lot of old pills sitting around, people may take

one thinking one will be fine, mix with a glass of wine, that could be a lethal problem. >> you can see sanjay's entire "deadly dose" special tonight, 8:00 eastern time. it's all the news you need for the week ahead. gangnam style. find out who and why psy is being honored. plus what you need to look for in the coming days. we'll be back. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas.

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now let's take a look ahead at what happens this week. president barack obama mix history on monday. he'll be the first u.s. president to visit myanmar also known as burma. he will praise the remarkable progress the country has made toward democratic rule. korean rap super sty psy gets an award. the youtube video of him doing wacky horse-riding dances had more than 600 million views. also tuesday, we get the housing starts report, the most closely followed number in the housing sector because it offers an idea of how healthy the housing industry is. wednesday, president obama pardons a turkey. it's the annual prethanksgiving tradition. and get this, and this is true. the turkey spends two nights in a fancy d.c. hotel before the pardon ing. lucky turkey. thursday, it's the 86th